A lesson learned the hard way

[RobertBrown]

A poor decision with dire consequences.
The bigger problem is more than likely...people feeding alligators.
Alligators have a natural fear of humans. They will flea from humans unless they have associated same with food as handouts.
I would be willing to bet that the gators here have been feeding on discarded fish waste and other food items thrown in the water by people.

When this guy hit the water, it triggered a competitive feeding response and he was no more than a large piece of fish waste to the surrounding gators. First one to the splash is the first one to feed. First come, first served.

It's a dangerous place to be let alone swim. I see lots of dock with no railings. If a small child were to fall in....even in a life jacket..it would most likely perish or be seriously injured
I suspect this was not first incident and it won't be the last.

 

[k0ua]

I heard his brother put on a fireworks show....

:shocked:

Later,
Dan

Must run in the family. Of course the family is getting smaller.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Some times I wonder how the human race manages to survive.

 

[Redneck in training]

I have a few gator stories maybe I will tell another time. Likely already posted them on TBN.

Any who, I don't think many non Aussies realize how dangerous the crocs can be in Australia. There are some places you just don't go into the water over there and it ain't just the sharks to worry about. :shocked: I was watching a video this weekend made by some people who are sailing around the Pacific and the video was from an island off the east coast of Australia. For a brief second they showed a sign that said it was SAFE to swim. :shocked::laughing: I was reading a trip report of a couple sailing around Australia and they mentioned the danger from crocs. In some areas you need to raise your dingy out of the water because the crocs will attack the wee little boat and many of the local and/or cruising dingys have teeth marks from crocs. :shocked: The couple was in one area of western Australia that had a big croc where they had anchored. The croc would watch and stay close to the boat. It seemed to me that the croc had been fed from a boat before and was expecting more food. The couple realized that the croc could easily ambush them on their sail boat which had a low freeboard so they were very cautious about spending much time on the swim step or the edge of the boat. :shocked:

Later,
Dan

Crocs are not most dangerous things in Australia. There are box jellyfish that can paralyze you, irukandji (jellyfish) causes brain hemorrhage, cone shells that sting you when you step on them and some other ocean animals that are deadly. Australia has many deadly venomous snakes but they try to stay away from people except Common death adder that will not back off. Nine out of ten people bit by snake were bitten while trying to kill a snake. I used to work in remote areas and off shore in Australia it was part of our safety training.

Big salt water crock can jump out of water 10 ft high. It is innate behavior. They jump to catch birds and other animals from trees growing over water.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Crocs are not most dangerous things in Australia. There are box jellyfish that can paralyze you, irukandji (jellyfish) causes brain hemorrhage, cone shells that sting you when you step on them and some other ocean animals that are deadly. Australia has many deadly venomous snakes but they try to stay away from people except Common death adder that will not back off. Nine out of ten people bit by snake were bitten while trying to kill a snake. I used to work in remote areas and off shore in Australia it was part of our safety training.

Big salt water crock can jump out of water 10 ft high. It is innate behavior. They jump to catch birds and other animals from trees growing over water.

Reminds me of an old Science Fiction book I read many years ago entitled "Death World"...even the vegetation was out to get you!

 

[truckdiagnostics]

If the warm climates didn't have all the animals that wanted to kill you nobody would want to live where it is cold. I look at them as population density control.

 

[dmccarty]

Reminds me of an old Science Fiction book I read many years ago entitled "Death World"...even the vegetation was out to get you!

Can't remember if it was the same book or not, but did the planet have high gravity, everyone had to be armed, very quick, very strong and a good shot? I have that book, can vaguely remember the cover, but the book is stored in a box in the barn.... I think there was a sequel to the first book.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Crocs are not most dangerous things in Australia. There are box jellyfish that can paralyze you, irukandji (jellyfish) causes brain hemorrhage, cone shells that sting you when you step on them and some other ocean animals that are deadly. Australia has many deadly venomous snakes but they try to stay away from people except Common death adder that will not back off. Nine out of ten people bit by snake were bitten while trying to kill a snake. I used to work in remote areas and off shore in Australia it was part of our safety training.

In spite of all of that, and not to mention the deserts, reefs, storms and seas that can do you in, I still want to spend time in Australia. By boat. What really worries me is not the deadly critters and environment but getting past the customs and bio security inspectors. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[truckdiagnostics]

In spite of all of that, and not to mention the deserts, reefs, storms and seas that can do you in, I still want to spend time in Australia. By boat. What really worries me is not the deadly critters and environment but getting past the customs and bio security inspectors. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

Traveled all over the world, stopped traveling maybe 12 years ago, always looked forward to getting back to the US. Even traveling to Canada on business what a hassle, if i told them I was hunting and had guns in the back , chances are i would get right through. For all the complaining I do about the weather here(cold). The critters aren't trying to kill me, we get tornadoes, but the chances of actually getting hit are slim, I complain about the taxes, but there are places a whole bunch worse off than me. And I can swim in the lakes without fear of being eaten, granted it is only two months out of the year! Steve

 

[Redneck in training]

In spite of all of that, and not to mention the deserts, reefs, storms and seas that can do you in, I still want to spend time in Australia. By boat. What really worries me is not the deadly critters and environment but getting past the customs and bio security inspectors. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

Australia is my top favorite country to visit. It is somewhat bureaucratic but it makes it predictable, it is highly developed but it still a frontier. If you want you can get lost there and nobody will find you, provided you have to know how to survive. It is big but has low population, everything has different dimension there. Gas stations are 400 miles apart on main road or not at all once you leave the pavement.
I was working in Pilbara few years back. Me and another guy were driving every Sunday to Karijini national park about 350-400 km one way on a gravel road. Before I left for my rotation home I told guys in the office (all expats) they should visit the place. I gave them instructions: Take nonperishable food for at least four days. Take water for at least a week. Take full tank(s) of diesel (45 gal) and make sure that you have two spare tires that are in good order. When I returned back to work few months later I heard a story about the trip.
They took two Toyota Landcruisers with three guys per car. They just made it to the boundary of the national park when one of the cars died and wouldn't restart. It was out of fuel. The driver was Dutch and had no clue about the place. He thought that there will be a gas station. So they all sardined in the other car and eventually returned back. The problem was how do you explain to the car rental company where the car was. There are no street or road signs. It took them four days to find it. The wheels and the engine were gone though. If you read car rental agreement fine print (rental company dependent) you would know that any accident on gravel road is excluded from coverage, any accident after sun set outside the town is also excluded, any damage to undercarriage is excluded etc. To make the story short they charged his credit card about AUD 30000. If you leave town your mobile will lose signal in about 30 km, your radio will go silent in about 100 km away and you are on your own.
There was embargo on export of live cattle to Indonesia few years ago. The grazers (ranchers) complained loudly so it was in news every day. I listened news every morning driving to work on local public station Radio National. One guy complained that they are small operation and as such they are really hurting. He said they had only 400 000 acres (or hectares?).
I have other stories I could tell but will save them for another time.